#GuildChat for 07/10/15: The Promise of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Learning

Our next #GuildChat takes place Friday, July 10th at 11am PT / 2pm ET. Our topic for this week’s chat is on the The Promise of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Learning.

There has been much talk and promise over the years with Augmented and Virtual Reality in the learning space. From safe to fail immersive experiences to performance support solutions that enable non-experts to complete critical activities without training. Yet even with such innovation neither technology has set the corporate learning world afire. Cost, cumbersomeness, and even the uncanny valley have contributed to low adoption and experimentation in these areas.

Where is virtual and augmented reality today? Where is it working and what can learning learn from other applications of these technologies? This week we’ll take a real look at virtually all things that augment learning in this space :)

Prospective questions:

Q1. How do you describe AR and VR to others, how do you describe the differences? #GuildChat

Q2. What are some effective examples of either AR or VR for learning that you have seen? #GuildChat

Mark is Sr. Manager, Programming for the eLearning Guild. Prior to joining he had worked over 15 years designing and managing learning solutions with organizations such as Smartforce, Pearson Digital Learning, the SUNY Research Foundation, Aspen Dental Management, and Systems Made Simple. His regional consultancy, ThruWork, helps businesses achieve the benefits of becoming more connected & collaborative. Mark regularly presents and writes on his The Simple Shift blog about the use of social media for learning, collaborative networks, and organizational design.

2 Responses to "#GuildChat for 07/10/15: The Promise of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Learning"

This is an interesting topic. I believe the truth is that augmented reality is the real reality, and logic-based thinking, and the software that springs from that mindset, has us humans bound by its disturbing assumptions.

Let me explain. The knowledge management consulting business and learning business have been around for decades, yet there is no consensus of what knowledge is, or how knowledge is gained, retained, and recalled. Neurologists claim to have a grounded explanation of how our brains work, but it is unclear how knowledge is learned, organized among the billions of brain cells, and how knowledge is recalled. In short, there is a knowledge gap within the eLearning industry, which will continue to exist until the questions of what knowledge is, is empirically defined and tested by all those who care to participate.

A previous scientist, Richard L. Ballard, concluded that Knowledge = Theory + Information. He claims that theory makes up 85% of knowledge, with data, the stuff that is constantly changing, only makes up about 15% of knowledge. Without “applied theory,” (how we connect the dots), we cannot know. Likewise, humans are driven by values and beliefs. This means that unlike logic, our sense of reality is not driven by self-consistency, a requirement of logic, but rather by something deep within our individual and collective psyche.

If software were capable of representing applied theory, they would be able to know and reason like people, and therefore, faithfully represent humans, rather than humans having to bend to the rules of logic. Such a technology would easily acquire and integrate the intellectual ecosystems of organizations and intertwine automatic and autonomous analytics around that content.

The shake-up is coming. Our latest generations will embrace this new reality because it will represent what is natural to them. Machines will become true co-creative partners with people. We need them for deep space exploration.

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TWIST is the official blog of The eLearning Guild. Posts on this blog will offer insights, ideas, perspectives, and discussion on the current trends in the learning industry, the technologies used to support learning and performance, happenings at the Guild, tips for professional development, and much more. Each post will include the personal ‘twist’ of the writers, including members of the Guild team and guest bloggers from the Guild community.